The skilled trades are bleeding talent—and Kilsar thinks AI can stop the hemorrhaging.
The dual-use AI software company announced a $3.7 million seed round led by Lightbank and Cotulla Capital, with backing from Techstars and Scalewolf. Alongside the funding, Kilsar unveiled a strategic partnership with the Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM), one of the largest U.S. training institutions for aviation technicians.
Kilsar’s mission? Preserve the knowledge walking out the door as experienced maintainers retire—and transform how technical training is delivered in sectors desperate for skilled labor.
From Wrenches to Workflows: Orion Modernizes Maintenance Know-How
At the heart of Kilsar’s approach is Orion, its AI-powered platform that captures tribal knowledge from seasoned technicians and converts it into interactive, step-by-step digital workflows. Think of it as the next-gen replacement for static manuals—only smarter, searchable, and enriched with annotated diagrams, expert video clips, and contextual “pro tips.”
The platform is designed to serve two audiences:
- New learners, who benefit from on-demand, instructor-quality guidance, and
- Active maintainers, who use it to reduce diagnostic time and navigate complex repairs with greater accuracy and confidence.
“Tribal knowledge is the most valuable—and most perishable—asset in maintenance,” said Brendan Lawlor, CEO of Kilsar. “With Orion, we’re preserving it, scaling it, and putting it into the hands of the next generation of technicians.”
AIM Partnership Targets Aviation Maintenance Crisis
The partnership with AIM comes at a critical time. Aviation maintenance organizations (MROs) are facing a perfect storm: experienced technicians are retiring, student interest in skilled trades is declining, and the demand for air travel—and aircraft uptime—is only increasing.
AIM will integrate Kilsar’s Orion platform into its curriculum, providing students with hands-on access to real-world procedures, powered by the insights of veteran maintainers. The goal is to shorten the training ramp, boost workforce readiness, and make the field more attractive to digital-native learners.
This is more than a classroom upgrade—it’s a shot at future-proofing the aviation workforce.
Beyond Aviation: A Platform Built for the Industrial Backbone
While aviation is the launchpad, Kilsar’s ambitions extend much further. With demand rising across defense, aerospace, infrastructure, and heavy industry, the Orion platform is being positioned as a critical enabler of workforce transformation.
By integrating legacy documentation, real-time field data, and human expertise, Orion helps organizations scale knowledge retention without losing nuance or operational precision.
And for sectors where equipment lifecycles span decades and personnel turnover is relentless, that kind of agility is no longer optional—it’s existential.
Fueling the Next Phase
Kilsar plans to use the new capital to:
- Expand its engineering and deployment teams
- Accelerate onboarding across defense and commercial clients
- Evolve Orion’s AI assistant, enhancing features like contextual search, multimedia guidance, and procedural automation
The broader goal is clear: deliver an AI platform that understands context, retains expertise, and adapts to increasingly complex industrial environments.
As companies wrestle with generational knowledge gaps and rapidly evolving technology, Kilsar may have found a rare thing in enterprise AI—a purpose-built tool solving a very real, very human problem.
Power Tomorrow’s Intelligence — Build It with TechEdgeAI.
